Protesters demonstrate in support of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident, outside Columbia University on Monday in New York. Khalil was detained by federal immigration agents Saturday. Yuki Iwamura - The Associated Press.

Khalil

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ AND PHILIP MARCELO | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK - President Donald Trump warned Monday that the arrest and possible deportation of a Palestinian activist who helped lead protests at Columbia University will be the first "of many to come" as his administration cracks down on campus demonstrations against Israel and the war in Gaza.

Mahmoud Khalil, a lawful U.S. resident who was a graduate student at Columbia until December, was detained Saturday by federal immigration agents in New York and flown to an immigration jail in Louisiana.

Homeland Security officials said Khalil's arrest was a result of Trump's executive orders prohibiting antisemitism. "We know there are more students at Columbia and other Universities across the Country who have engaged in pro­

terrorist, anti-Semitic, anti-American activity," Trump wrote in a social media post. "We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country- never to return again."

Khalil's detention drew outrage from civil rights groups and free speech advocates, who accused the administration of using its immigration enforcement powers to squelch criticism of Israel.

His lawyers filed a lawsuit challenging his detention. A federal judge in New York City ordered that Khalil not be deported while the court considered his case. A hearing was scheduled for Wednesday.

Typically, expelling a person who has permanent residency in the U.S. requires a high bar, such as that person being convicted of certain types of crimes, but Khalil has not been charged with any crimes over his activities during campus unrest last year at the university.

He's the first person known to be detained for deportation under Trump's promised crackdown on student protests.

Federal immigration authorities also visited a second international student at Columbia on Friday evening and attempted to take her into custody but were not allowed to enter the apartment, according to a union representing the student. The woman has not been identified, and it's not clear what grounds the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency had for the visit. Trump has argued that protesters forfeited their rights to remain in the country by supporting Hamas, which controls Gaza. The U.S. has designated Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Khalil and other student leaders of Columbia University Apartheid Divest have rejected claims of antisemitism, saying they are part of a broader anti-war movement that also includes Jewish students and groups. But the protest coalition, at times, has also voiced support for leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, another Islamist organization designated by the U.S. as a terrorist group.